Hi All,
I noticed one of our birds feet looked odd the other day. We pulled it out today to look at it. It looks like it has some type of injury or infection? It looks like the nail is missing. It is soft on the end but it does not smell bad and it looks pretty swollen. For lack of a better idea, we cleaned it with peroxide and put it back for now. Any thoughts?
Here is another pic of the toe.
I notice that sometimes the nail on one of my chickens is ripped off or looks like it was relatively recently but it is growing back. I'm not sure why this happens except that they are scratching all the time on the ground and some things must be very hard to scratch! I think you did the right thing. I would keep an eye on it, but I bet it is fine.
It does look like he just lost the nail. Not unusual and heals up pretty good. Peroxide was perfect, but there really isn't any way to keep a chickens foot clean unless you cage him with a wire bottom. Luckily they are such hardy animals!
Thank you ladies! Sometimes I'm not sure if I should worry or feel bad or both! LOL
I don't guess there is any easy way to keep it clean since it's walks in it's own poo.
I'm setting up a composting area today after I fill in another bed. Might as well make good use of all the rabbit and chicken manure. ;)
Edited to fix a double negative. Geesh!
This message was edited Sep 2, 2007 4:48 PM
Well I have one hen that also has the same thing. Except ALL of its nails are ripped off. It has been like this for about 6-7 months maybe more. They still didn't grow back. It can still walk and do everything else.
Eric
